Festival News

To Ticket or Not to Ticket – That is the question

 in Festival News

Eventbrite - Manchester Beer & Cider Festival 2016Advance tickets for the festival have been selling like (insert your favourite beer here) – with take up around 50% ahead of the 2015 festival.

One of the most frequently asked questions is “will I be able to pay on the door”? Well the simple answer is “that depends how many other people want to pay on the door”.

Around 50% of the available space for each day has been put on advance sale. When these tickets have gone, remaining space each day will be pay on the door on a first come, first served basis. When the hall reaches capacity, entry will be on one out, one in basis.

It’s a big hall but capacity is not just governed by floor space – we have to consider many legal requirements for your health & safety and of course we have to make sure we have enough beer to sell to those who come through the door. We don’t want to ask people to queue in the cold, but if we’re full, we’ll unfortunately have no choice.

At time of writing, we don’t expect any problems with capacity on Wednesday & Thursday – however remember that advance ticket holders will have a separate entrance at busy times so you can beat the queues.
Friday and Saturday are expected to be busy. Saturday’s original allocation of tickets has already sold out once and after reviewing capacity we added a few more but these are expected to be sold out soon.
Currently there are a good number of tickets for Friday remaining so if you want to guarantee your space at the festival, grab some now.

Eventbrite - Manchester Beer & Cider Festival 2016

Q&A with the people in charge of CAMRA

 in Festival News

A unique opportunity to quiz CAMRA’s Chief Executive and Chairman arrives for branch members this month.

Both Chief Executive Tim Page and National Chairman Colin Valentine will be at Manchester Central in the heart of the city on the opening day of the Manchester Beer and Cider Festival. Organised by the Greater Manchester branches of CAMRA, the festival is moving and growing after two successful years at the National Cycling Centre.

And with some controversial regional and national issues affecting the country’s largest consumer organisation, organisers are expecting a lively Question Time “session”.

Festival Organiser Graham Donning said: “Recent changes to the local branch coverage, the rise of unfiltered and unpasteurised keg beers and the battle to save pubs from unwanted redevelopment or change of use are all topics I expect to be raised.”

The festival celebrates the diversity of British brewing with over 500 ales, ciders and perries on offer. Foreign beer fans will have a great selection of beers from the ‘big three’ – Germany, Belgium and the Czech Republic – as well as a Rest of the World bar.

Tim Page and Colin Valentine will be facing questions from 5.30pm on Wednesday 20th January in the foyer area of Manchester Central. And unlike the BBC programme, this Question Time will welcome those with pints in hand.

National Chairman Colin Valentine is no stranger to the festival. “I was invited to the Velodrome in 2013 to see how the local branches had reinvented the concept in such a different setting. I’m sure the move to an even bigger venue will make for a great experience for all drinkers. It’s always great to hear from as many of our 170,000 members as possible. Greater Manchester is a growth area for members and breweries, so I don’t think there’ll be any awkward silences.”

The festival runs from Wednesday 20th to Saturday 23rd January 2016. Free or reduced price admission is available to CAMRA card holders. Advance tickets can be obtained through the festival website, www.mancbeerfest.uk.

Great Manchester Brew Off

 in Festival News

The increased numbers of commercial breweries around the region has been matched by a growth in the popularity of home brewing. The city has two successful home brew groups in Manchester & Chorlton where amateur brewers regularly meet up to swap tips and recipes and try the beers of their contemporaries. Although brewing kits still adorn the shelves of supermarkets, many of these home brewers are brewing “full mash” beers from raw ingredients and many of the resulting beers easily stand up against commercial beers.

These beers normally only reach the lips of a few friends and family but we’ve challenged the two groups to put a beer in front of 13,000 people at #MBCF16 by brewing their recipes on full scale brew-kits at a commercial brewery.

Chorlton Home Brewers normally meet at The Font in Chorlton, but today (3rd January) they are at Beer Nouveua brewery mashing in a pale ale which will be on Bar 1 at #MBCF16 in just over two weeks time.
Torrside Brewery in New Mills will be the host for the Manchester Home Brew club tomorrow (4th January). We hear the club, who normally meet on the third Thursday of the month, downstairs at The Beermoth, Tib Street are planning an English IPA which will feature on Bar 3 at the festival.
Once their work is done, it will be for you, the drinking public to decide which is the best beer. We’ll have just over 400 third pints of each beer so the method of competition will be easy. We won’t do any blind tasting or anything fancy – just a simple judgement on which beer do you drink the most of. Will one, or both of them even be so popular you drink it all?
You’ll also be able to judge their efforts against the country’s very best homebrewer. Manchester can proudly boast being home to the current National Homebrew Champion, Matt Dutton who won the Best Of Show award in the 2015 UK National Homebrew Competition with his Coup D’Etat Brett beer.
Matt is a mainstay of the Chorlton Homebrewers group which meet up at Chorlton’s Font Bar and also a regular attendee at meetings in Manchester. he’ll be brewing up one of his own recipes for the festival with Sam Dyson at the Track Brewing Company. The beer will also be on Bar 3 when the festival opens at Manchester Central on 20th January.
Chorlton Homebrewers @ChorltonBrewers
Manchester HomeBrewClub @MancsHomeBrew manchesterhomebrew.co.uk

 

Chorlton Homebrewers gather at Beer Nouveau

Chorlton Homebrewers gather at Beer Nouveau


Chorllton Homebrewers - Loading mash tun

The brewers prepare to brew

 
Chorllton Homebrewers - mash in

Mashing In

 
 
 

CITY’S PREMIER BEER CELEBRATION MOVES CENTRAL

 in Festival News / Press Releases

21st July 2015

For Immediate Release:

CITY’S PREMIER BEER CELEBRATION MOVES CENTRAL

Manchester Beer & Cider Festival confirms move to Manchester Central

The Manchester Beer & Cider Festival – Manchester’s premier celebration of the finest beers & ciders – has confirmed its new home for 2016 as the main hall at Manchester Central. The region’s largest Beer & Cider festival will take place from Wednesday 20th – Saturday 23rd January 2016. Event organisers the Campaign For Real Ale (CAMRA) announced earlier this year that they were seeking a new home after two years at Manchester Velodrome.

Six months of meetings and negotiations has seen the organisers secure their first choice venue which will allow them to retain all the features which attracted over 11,000 drinkers to the 2015 festival and is expected to attract even more at its new central home. The festival will feature a massive choice of over 500 beers, ciders and perries across a range of bars. Work is already underway on selecting the beers with established favourites including Marble Beers, Hawkshead Brewery and Brightside Beers already on board alongside relative newcomers to the local beer scene including Cryptic Ales and Seven Brothers.

Festival Organiser Graham Donning said “We are very excited to be bringing the festival right into the heart of the city. With direct access from the newly improved Deansgate-Castlefield Metrolink station and Deansgate rail station, we couldn’t have a better location for our customers who flock from across the region and indeed from all over the country to attend.”

When asked about the process of selecting a new venue he added “The last few months have been very busy behind the scenes as we sought the perfect venue. Myself and my colleagues have visited numerous venues across the city and held countless meetings to discuss available dates, logistics, budgets and all the other dull details which the drinkers never see. We are delighted that we have been able to secure an agreement with what was our first choice venue. ”

Although only three years old, the Manchester Beer & Cider Festival has established itself as one of the top beer festivals in the UK, with one of the largest ranges of beers and cider. Up to 13,000 visitors are expected to travel from all over the country and beyond to attend the festival which complements Manchester’s growing international reputation as a centre for craft beer. Hundreds of volunteers will spend four days setting up what will become Manchester’s largest pub serving over 50,000 pints over the four day event.

Tickets for the event are scheduled to go on sale on Tuesday 1st September via the festival website at www.mancbeerfest.uk

 

 

Notes to editors:
1) The Manchester Beer & Cider Festival is organised by the Greater Manchester Branches of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).

2) The 2015 festival attracted around 11,500 customers to Manchester Velodrome over 4 days from 21st – 24th January 2015.